


Up in Smoke

by SketchyNonsense



Category: DashBored (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, i guess??, someone please help me figure out how to tag shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-27 02:25:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15014609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SketchyNonsense/pseuds/SketchyNonsense
Summary: Isaac can't seem to catch a break when he comes home after some time away.





	Up in Smoke

**Author's Note:**

> A sorta AU where the hotel girl appears more in the game, because for some reason I have alot of inspiration for writing her. Spoilers for Days 1 and 3 of Dashbored.

"Alright, let's head on back to Coton to give the mayor this stupid fish," Nicholas sighed, holding up the grey, half dead fish he'd just retrieved. "Hopefully he won't mind it's alittle...dead..." He frowned, looking back towards the sewer and wondering if the mayor would make him go back and get another one. God, that'd be annoying.

"Lead the way, kid. If he's got a problem with it, just let me talk to 'im for ya. I'm sure he'll listen ta reason." Isaac smirked, already plotting in his head how he'd go about beating some sense into the old man and cracking his knuckles.

"Sure...yeah...." Nic gave him a look before turning to head back down the street.

Isaac followed close behind, kicking the manhole cover back into place before catching up. He stopped suddenly, hearing a noise coming from his right. A woman's voice? He looked up, seeing a dark haired girl in a black dress on the hotel balcony waving at him flirtatiously and whistling to get his attention. He grinned. It was Dolly.

It'd been awhile since they'd talked, hadn't it? It'd been atleast acouple days since he'd ended up at the bottom of the frog king's koi pond, n she had to be atleast alittle worried, right? He thought about going up to pay her a visit, but glanced back in the direction of his new companion that was still headed down the street without realizing Isaac was gone. Isaac made finger guns at Dolly, trying to be as smooth as a waterlogged robot could be. She covered her mouth to hide her laughter, blowing him a kiss from up on the balcony. Isaac clutched his chest, feeling like he was gonna blow a fuse. He couldn't wipe that lovesick grin off his face, nor stop the little bit of a blush creeping onto his screen. 

"Hey Isaac, aren't you coming?" Nic called, already a fair ways down the street and looking back at the robot confusedly. 

"Uh, yeah I'll be there in a second," He called back, looking back longing towards his lady friend. She peered down the road towards the other man, looking back towards Isaac and tilting her head. Isaac shrugged awkwardly, jabbing a thumb in Nic's direction to let her know he had to get goin'. She shook her head smiling, waving him on. Isaac started off in Nic's direction, making a little "call me" motion at Dolly before he picked up the pace to catch up. 

"Who was that?" Nic asked, starting to walk again as Isaac got back within' a reasonable distance. 

"Who?oh- uh, Dolly? She's a friend of mine." Isaac smiled,

"Hm," Nic nodded in understanding, deciding to keep from bugging his new pal too much about his personal life just yet. 

 

"Think we could drop by the farmers' market before we head out? I need ta pick up some things."

 

* * *

 

Isaac knew something was wrong the minute they got to the front gates of Roke, the scorch marks and barb wire blockades being more than enough to tip him off. The rather aggressive guard at the entrance just made his anxiety worse. Normally, he'd feel better after snuffing out acouple goons like the ones over by the Ovok conscription center, but he didn't. He still felt antsy and nervous. He didn't let either of his party members know, since of course he still had appearances to keep up. Can't be letting them see anything get to him.  

Once they managed to get past the guard, he could feel the light drain from his screen. His servos felt heavy, looking at his home town in shambles. There were soldiers crawling all over, dead bodies in the streets of people he knew didn't do any harm. He recognized afew from the bar, afew he didn't really know since they'd not been the type to stick their noses in other peoples' buisness. He had to hold himself back from attacking the first MPG soldier he saw, wanting to tear every bastard there to pieces for not only being on his turf, but reducing so much of it to rubble like this. 

"Well, there goes the neighborhood." Alex said quietly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I shoulda' never left" He grumbled quietly. Sure, his men's numbers had dropped a fair bit in recent days, but he still could've atleast helped fight off these intruders, Or died trying alongside his family.

His family. 

Maybe some of them were still alive? Maybe they'd holed up when the attack started? It'd be out of character for them to run from a fight, but Isaac didn't care. He just wanted to know he had someone left.

They took a shortcut through the alleyway that led to Isaacs' hideout. There were more scorchmarks, undoubtedly from grenades. Isaac saw a faint blue glow from the dumpster up ahead, the one that helped obscure the hideout door. He ran ahead of Nic and Alex, Stopping only to look at the door to his hideout. The door had been kicked in, and he could see a faint glow of fire inside. If he'd had breath, it'd be caught in his throat. He looked back to the dumpster again, jumping up and grabbing the edge to pull himself up and look inside. 

Laying on his side in the dumpster, screen cracked and flickers, was Benny. 

"Benny! You're alive! Where's everyone else!?" He started yelling, Alex and Nic catching up to him moments later. Alex winced looking at the robot, seeing how some of his limbs were facing the wrong directions. "Benny? Can you hear me?" He leaned in further, almost falling over and into the dumpster himself. Nic grabbed the back of his suit and pulled him off of the dumpster. Nic set the small mafia don back down on the ground, getting a glare in return. "Well don't just stand there, ya palookas!" Isaac yelled, angrily looking at his two other companions. "Help 'im out!"

Nic grabbed his right arm, and Alex grabbed his left. They tried their best to hoist him up and out of the dumpster, but he was too heavy to pull all the way out. Nic could feel servos and bolts popping and giving way as he yanked the tall bot's arm. They managed to get Benny propped up on the edge of it, his arms holding him up though he was barely able to hold his head up.

"B-Boss?" Benny's voice came through, faint and somewhat glitchy. A faint static backed his audio. "...Boss..?"

"I'm here, Benny! You're gonna be alright!" Isaac tried to reassure, as Alex and Nic looked at eachother skeptically.  "What happened? Where's everyone else? Did they get away?"

"There....There was t-too many of them...boss..." Benny's voice faded in and out as he struggled to remain conscious, his light continuing to flicker. "We...We couldn't take 'em...there's nobody left...I...I saw every one of em get put down, boss....I was the last one standin' boss..." He shook and twitched abit, quiet sobbing sound effects coming in through the static. "I...I c-couldn't save anyone, boss...." His head drooped abit, looking at his broken arms and the cracked asphault below. "N-Not even myself boss...I- D-D-Don't feel good..." The static in his voice getting worse. He twitched, light continuing to flicker as his audio module began to malfunction. "I'm sca-sca-scar-ed-ed boss I don't-I don't" Quiet sparking noises could be heard coming from inside his chassis. "I don't-I don't-I don't-I don't-I don't-I don't-I don't-I don't-I don't-..."

Benny's light flickered out and his head drooped. 

He was gone. 

"Alright, Now these bastards gotta die," Isaac growled, balling his hands into fists. Of course, he'd planned to slaughter the lot of them since he stepped back into town, but now he was Especially determined to bash all their heads in. 

"We should keep going," Nic said quietly, already starting to walk towards the other end of the alleyway. 

"Yeah. Can't really exact revenge if there's nobody around to beat up!" Alex tried to joke, heading in the same direction as Nic. Isaac didn't respond, he just followed. 

After awhile, they came upon the old hotel again. The upper floor was in flames, and the balcony was empty. The front door was blown in and the evidence of the destruction inside was evident, even from outside. They almost passed it up, when Isaac stopped and noticed something just outside the stoop.

It was one of those long, fancy cigarette holders. It looked like it'd been snapped in half. Isaac's eyes grew wide. 

Dolly.

He went to run inside, but was stopped by a heavy hand grabbing the back of his suit. "Where the hell do you think you're going? That place is falling apart!" Alex pulled the smaller bot backwards. "As much as I'd love to go running into burning buildings willy nilly, we sort of have a mission right now?"  

"I need to check if anyone's alive in there!" Isaac yanked himself free of Alex's grasp, bolting for the door. Nic came back over to the hotel entrance, having only moments ago realizes his party members had stopped. 

"What happened?"

"Apparently, our mafia robot has decided to play the hero for once," Alex gestured to the building. "Ah well. Guess we'll haveta go on without him," He shrugged, starting back down the way they'd been heading. 

"Alex, what the hell?!"

"What? If he wants to go risk his life for nothing, it's not our problem. We don't need him anyway." 

"Are you fucking with me? What if he gets hurt, or stuck in there?"

"Then it's his own fault. Nothin' we can do now." Alex shrugged. "Now come on! We got skulls to bash!" Alex said with the fakest over-enthusiasm Nic had ever witnessed.

"You can go on your own, I'm going after Isaac." Nic gave the taller man a look before running inside the burning hotel after his friend. Alex sighed irritably, finding a street pole to lean on. He couldn't just go off on his own, could he? Only choice he had was to wait and see if they'd come back out alive. If not, he'd need to rethink some of his planning. What had even gotten into Isaac? He wasn't the heroic type, not by a long shot. And now Nic was in danger too because he was worried over Isaac. Alex shook his head, and went back to thinking of what his next move might have to be.

 

The inside of the hotel was thickly filled with smoke from the fire upstairs, parts of the roof caving in as Nic looked around for Isaac. He pulled his shirt up over his mouth and nose to try and put some sort of barrier between his lungs and imminent smoke inhalation. "Isaac?!" Nic called, looking around the unfamiliar building, narrowling avoidng getting crushed by bits of burning ceiling as he went. Eventually he found Isaac by the stairs, hunched next to what appeared to be a body. Nic felt a chill run down his spine. He faintly recognized it as that woman that always was on the hotel balcony. The one Isaac knew. He ran over to where Isaac was, noticing Isaac's shoulders shaking gently, and what sounded like quiet crying. "Isaac?"

Isaac jumped, turning around and looking at Nic fearfully. Once he realized who it was, he calmed down instantly. "She's not doin' well Nicky, I don't think she'll make it," Isaac said, voice somewhat choked up. "we...we gotta get her outta here, stat. Isaac said, gently putting his arms up underneith her and straining to lift her. "C'mon Dolly, we gotta get you outta here," Isaac said quietly, still trying to lift her on his own. Nic stooped down to help.

Back outside, Alex began considering his options if the other two didn't come out as he inspected his gauntlet. Maybe with just him, jack, and midori they could storm the MPG building and figure out whats' going on. it'd be a major setback, but they could probably get it done. He looked up from his gauntlet back at the building, eyes widening when he saw a soot and ash covered Nicholas and Isaac emerge, Isaac yelling "Cough" dramatically while Nic legitimately started to hack up his lungs as soon as he got outside, falling to his knees with what appeared to be a woman's body in his arms. He set her down on the ground. She still seemed to be breathing, though faintly. Her body was bruised up and she had some burns. She looked like a mess. Alex ran over to see what was going on, standing over the other two. 

"What in the hell were you two thinking!?" Alex scolded, talking with his hands as he started going on about how stupid it was for them to go in there. Neither Nic, nor Isaac paid him any mind. 

"You got any meds on you, Nicky?" Isaac asked, kneeling by Dolly's side and checking her pulse. Nic coughed into his fist again, nodding as he fumbled around in his pocked with his free hand. He produced a bottle of mega meds, haphazardly tossing it to the robot. Isaac caught the bottle easily, though he fumbled abit with the childproof cap. "C'mon Dolly, it'll be ok," He tried to soothe, though she gave no response. He tilted her head up and dropped some of the medicine tablets into her mouth, Nic handing over a doda soda he'd apparently also had on him to help her swallow it. "Thanks." 

It took afew minutes, Nic and Isaac watching her with baited breath. Alex had given up on trying to yell at them, seeing they were far too preoccupied. He felt bad for not caring, but he was far more concerned that his two party members had just thrown themselves into a near death situation over a girl they didn't know. Alex knelt down too to watch the strange woman, to see if she'd wake up. 

Her eyes slowly opened, her arm reaching up to gingerly hold her head. Isaac and Nic shared a sigh of relieve, while Alex just looked surprised. She tried to sit herself up, flinching at the pain that shot through her body as she tried. Isaac carefully helped her stay propped up. "Hey, it's ok now. You're safe." Isaac said gently, rubbing her back as Nic also helped sit her up. She rubbed the side of her head, blinking slowly, managing to keep herself propped up now with her free hand. "You feelin' alright, doll?" Isaac tilted his head. Alex wordlessly got up and walked to go lean on that light pole again, wanting to give them some space.

"I'm...I'm alive..." She said, looking down at the dried blood and bruises on her arms and legs. "What...what happened?"

"Some bastards decided they'd burn this place to the ground while my back was turned," He frowned. "Guess that makes this place officially the worst place in the garden," he tried to joke, getting a very weak laugh out of Dolly before she started coughing. She smiled at him.

"I dunno, I-I'd say it's still better than Coton," 

Isaac couldn't help but chuckle abit. He put more megameds from the bottle in her hand. "here doll, take these. it's the good stuff. Should getcha feelin' right as rain soon enough" he gently put his hand over hers. She took more meds and the bruises seemed to slowly lighten as she took more, washing them down with soda until the whole bottle had run out. She sighed, stretching her now healed limbs and standing up with some help from Isaac and Nic. Alex stared at the trio for a moment, something clicking in his head. He didn't say anything, and went back to his thoughts.

"Glad to see you're alright," Nic awkwardly piped up. "Was really worried about you for a minute there,"

"Wait a minute, don't I know you from somewhere?" She tapped her chin as she got a good look of Nicholas. She snapped and pointed at him, giving Nicholas a start. "You're Isaac's friend from afew days ago, aren't you?" 

"Yep, Nicky boy here saved my life." Isaac jabbed his friend's side. "Fished me outta a koi pond. 'N he helped me carry ya outta the hotel. So I guess Nicky here's got abit of a heroic streak" Isaac teased, making Nic blush abit. "And slimjim over there did diddly squat," Isaac shot a glare over at Alex, who was trying to look innocent as he fiddled with his gauntlet. He could feel the other three staring. 

"What?"

Dolly gave him a look, but quickly turned her attention back to Isaac and Nic. "You both saved my life, and I don't think I can ever repay you for that," she smiled.

Dolly leaned down and pecked Isaac on the cheek, leaving a little lipstick mark and making his screen glow abit brighter with a excited little grin. Dolly went to give Nicholas a congratulatory cheek smooch aswell, but he leaned away just out of her range when she tried. She laughed. "Not much of a fan of kisses?" She teased. Nic nodded, abit embarassed. "alright. How's a crisp high five sound?" She joked, holding up her hand. Nic shrugged and obliged, high fiving her without another thought. 

"Alright! Wonderful! Everyone's happy! Can we get moving now?" Alex asked, getting impatient but still putting on a smile.

"yeah yeah, ya stilt walker lookin' motherfucker, we can get going," Isaac replied irritably. 

"Great!, Nic, if you would lead the way?" He motioned for Nicholas to take the lead. 

They started walking again, somehow falling into single file again as they seemed to do. Alex walked up next to Isaac, trying to talk quietly so the other two didn't here.

"Hey...uh, Isaac?"

"What do you want, ya fuckin' treant?" Isaac glared, still obviously annoyed with him. 

"I...I wanted to say I'm sorry for trying to stop you. Alright?" Alex frowned, avoiding eye contact. "I was just worried about you and Nic. I-I didn't know why you were running in there like that and..." Alex sighed and tried to look for the right words. "I know what it's like to lose someone you love too, and I didn't mean to be...insensitive or whatever." Alex huffed, hating to admit he was wrong. Isaac looked at him with slight surprise.

"Alright. Apology accepted." Isaac crossed his arms. "Now, lets go bash in some skulls, huh? Show 'em what happens when ya mess with The Family." Isaac smiled.

 

 

 


End file.
